Posts Tagged ‘sail’

So here’s the deal – you’ve got sail boarders going back and forth from Crissy Field to Horseshoe Cove at the same time you have humpback whales going up and down getting sardines.

This person knows that whales are in this area these days. If you see a whale going down, you can guess that it will pop up again in about the same area in about two minutes.

So if there’s a collision, this isn’t necessarily running into whales on purpose, which seems to what’s worrying some in Frisco these days.

Same thing for kite boarders

This here is from Fort Point on a foggy evening:

These sail boaters are more or less hanging out with the whales, going back and forth in a small area between Alcatraz and the GGB:

They’re on their own whale watching tour:

But I didn’t see any whale strikes on this day.

Now, back up to the bridge, this was the last time I was up there. This 40 foot sailboat had just tacked going upwind and then up comes a whale. The boat hit the whale but it was more of a glancing blow. The boaters weren’t aiming for the whale as they couldn’t even see it until after they hit it – it’s just something that happens.

VisionZero is a governmental promise that nobody will ever get injured / killed in transportation accidents in San Francisco from 2024 to eternity. IMO it’s shameful to promote the idea that there’s any kind of chance of this actually occurring IRL – somehow the politics of the situation has people doing this, oh well.

But what about whales? If you want to live in a world without whales getting hit by watercraft, you’d need to ban watercraft from transiting the Golden Gate when the whales are around. That would be Vision Zer whale strikes, I don’t think that’s practical.

The whale above did fine. It floated about for a while and then went back to fishing.

So I don’t know. Let’s be careful out there, but these types of incidents are inevitable when you have so many whales about in the summertime…

And actually, the real wing of this KC-10 jet, which would be considered the size of a medium-big jetliner these days, is smaller than what you’ll find on Craaaaaazy Larry Ellison’s AC72 America’s Cup yachts.

But you WILL take eight figures from the taxpayers of San Francisco in order to fund your ego-gratification race?

Well then, On With The Show.

*Your DC-10, MD-10, KC10 type aircraft were famous for having big, big tailplanes, back in the day, the likes of which you can see in this photo, the horizontal stabilizer you can see at the back. Which was fine, but it wasn’t efficient because tailplanes don’t really lift anything. So, McDonnell-Douglas engineers made the updated model, the MD-11, with a smaller tailplane. And they also strengthened the landing gear to deal with the lengthened body. All these things led to a more efficient but harder-to-handle aircraft. So in tough landing situations things head south in a hurry and, instead of the landing gear collapsing, you’ll break a wing off and roll over. (See below.) These days, this is mostly a problem for FedEx pilots and it will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Godspeed, FedEx pilots.

Oh, and this wasn’t the only safety issue with this unsuccessful and relatively rare a/c.

On August 22, 1999 China Airlines Flight 642, an MD-11 operated by subsidiary Mandarin Airlines, crashed while landing at Hong Kong airport during a typhoon that exceeded the plane’s crosswind specifications, also flipping onto its back and burning. Three passengers were killed.

On March 23, 2009 FedEx Express Flight 80, N526FE, crashed at Narita International Airport, Japan while landing in windy conditions. Airport surveillance video showed the aircraft becoming airborne again after the first touch-down, then impacting nose-first the second time and turning onto its left side, erupting into flames; the impact flipped the aircraft upside down. The aircraft finally came to rest some distance left of the runway. The two flight crew members were killed.“

You can read the latest press release from the America’s Cup people below. I don’t know when it was put out, possibly at 3:00 AM on Thanksgiving Day, you know, cause that’s how you’re supposed to handle bad news, I guess.

“Sources close to the America’s Cup said Thompson’s exit was the result of lackluster financial performance of the America’s Cup World Series, a collection of races around the world leading up to the 2013 finale. World Series races have been held in Portugal, England and one week ago in San Diego. Coming events are scheduled for Italy and Newport, R.I.”

So, what makes the America’s Cup 2013 good for San Francisco? Are we getting paid to host it? I don’t think so. And, in fact, I think we’re on the hook for lots of costs that we don’t fully understand at this point. And the person who was supposed to look out for us is now the former Mayor , but, no matter, they’re making him Honorary Commodore or Poohbah or whatever of the whole thing?

Check out a recap show right here, if you want. (Unlike the case with popular sports, you don’t have pay to watch the America’s Cup World Series.) The first minute shows what I’m talking about.

Oh, yeah, the boats are faster, I get that. And oh yeah, these rigs crash with regularity. Like this:

I get that, but what makes this event good? It’s not going to be popular, it’s not going to make money for us. Some businesses will benefit, some won’t, some will be hurt, just like with any other government program. Some people will get temporary gigs and hotels will be able to raise their rates, but this event, overall, isn’t for San Francisco’s benefit.

It’s for the 1% but it’s paid for by the 99%.

Speaking of which, if Larry Ellison wrote a check to the City and County right now for $100,000,000 (put “For Larry’s boat race” in the memo part, LE) AND put up a $500,000,000 account or bond or whatever that people wronged by the America’s Cup could recover from, let’s say, until 2016 or so, well that would turn my frown not necessarily upside-down but back to neutral anyway.

I mean who gives a fuck if Larry Ellison wins another boat race except for Larry Ellison himself? So why isn’t he paying for it?

Speaking of which, again, a good chunk of the 1% doesn’t like all the new changes.

“I have watched a couple ofthe match races and, due to the speed of the boats now, and their abiity to quickly accelerate in a small puff, the tactics of the match race are left behind and all we have left is to watch for capsizes, and a lot of spray coming over the bow(s). All this is reflected in the new course, which is nothing but a reach (a drag race, really) to the first mark. Good grief, this eliminates most of the interesting pre race maneuvering, which is most of match racing!”

The ACEA seems to be quite proud (check out Teams Korea’s captain at 1:35 – I think he’s speaking English but I don’t understand half his words) about the times when these cats capsize (the title says “very funny,” but it’s actually it’s extremely funny (even though the daggerboard is the floating kind and it’s properly tied down anyway)) and/or pitchpole. Does the NFL put out Greatest Injuries clips? Does NASCAR put out Greatest Crashes clips? NTIKO. These AC45 rigs have waaaaay too much sail for the conditions that you see in the official ACEA video clips. Why is that?

So you make all these changes, but maybe spectators would just rather look at something else? I mean, if you wanted to lose money putting on a event, why not pay money to bring Rajon Rondo here to play Lebron James one-on-one or something. Why not bring things here that people like? Why are we on the hook for the popularity of a sport that nobody’s really into? We do we have these department heads, who don’t know Jack, out there mindlessly cheerleading for this stupid event that was poorly negotiated. It’s pathetic.

Oh well.

Here’s the release, the one letting us know that Craig Thompson “decided to leave the Event Authority,” you know because he got canned:

“The America’s Cup Event Authority has extended the role of Richard Worth to include Chief Executive Officer along with Chairman. In this expanded role, Richard will be responsible for the commercial interests of the 34th America’s Cup, adding marketing and partnerships to his purview. A 30-year sports marketing executive with extensive global broadcasting and leadership experience, we believe Richard’s hands-on engagement will allow us to significantly enhance the growth of our commercial efforts in support of fulfilling the vision for the 34th America’s Cup.

Overall management of the events will move to America’s Cup Race Management, who will now lead both the on- and off-the-water components of the events, as well as serve as liaison to the teams. Building upon their proven success with event management, led by ACRM CEO and Regatta Director Iain Murray, we believe that centralizing management of the events under ACRM ensures an even smoother road to success.

With this realignment of responsibilities, Craig Thompson has decided to leave the Event Authority. Craig has played an important role over the past year in helping to build the foundation of our future, and we appreciate his significant contributions.”

And oh, for completeness, the latest release from the the Powers That Be

This week, environmentalist David de Rothschild gives two lectures (at 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm) about his upcoming voyage across the Pacific. What makes it unique? He’s crossing the ocean in a 60-foot vessel constructed entirely of recycled materials, mostly plastic water bottles!

De Rothschild will share details of his itinerary, including his plan to navigate the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating landfill and man-made disaster that’s twice the size of Texas.

Purchase Boarding Passes online for one of three villages, which will feature several vessels and other maritime-history highlights ($10 to $20). Board the Red and White Fleet Water Taxi to connect between the three villages. Book online ($16) for a full day pass.